Spurs V Man United preview.

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Obviously old Trafford hasn't been a happy hunting ground of late for the Spurs but we head there having won our first two fixtures for the first time in a number of years and the hosts seemingly in turmoil in which is almost a must win game for the men in red already.
Is it a good time to play an under pressure Mourinho side I'm not too sure on that one if I'm honest as when he's up against it he generally pulls a rabbit out the hat especially in big games which this surely is.

Team news

Spurs will have quite a healthy squad available with fringe players missing C. Vickers, Foyth and the unavailable Son.
Wanyama has returned to full training but unlikely to feature.
The main sticking point for me is whether spurs stick with back 3 that worked well v Fulham first half or not so much the 2nd half or revert to a flat bk 4 with Dembele returning.
I'd go with the latter with Lloris Tripps Davies Toby Jan Dembele Dier Moura Eriksen Alli Kane.

Prediction a tough one all draw with Kane to score.

 

1st half display leggy, flat, unbalanced Mouras been the only positive outlet so far, needs a formation switch Dier and Dembele look completely off the pace.
Alli needs to spend more time working on his football over finger masks and flossing.
Too much slow safe passing when we've actually managed to string anything together in utds half.

 

Well what a turn of events , great result in the end.
Great performance from Moura and great header from Kane.
That result should inspire a lot of confidence in the team hopefully we really start to get into gear off of it.

COYS !

 

very good prediction from bigfran and very good analysis from Felon 82.
Mou did pull rabbit out of hat with 3 back system they have never played. 5 midfielders was too much for Spurs to handle. Rose and Trippier were cut off with constant interceptions and Pogba shadowed Eriksen. Nothing seems to work in 1st period. Luckily Lukaku is no Kane, so they have not converted. In second period Spurs were much more focused, stopped playing wide and used lobs to get the ball behind the CBs. What a difference! Poch now has plan B! 3-0 at Old Trafford! this is historic! COYS!!

 

great result due to impressive second half but before we get carried away united should have been two up early doors thanks to another mistake ridden display by rose.We are still dodgy in defence early on although it is good to see aldy back.great goal by Kane but he still looks off the pace .magnificent display by moura let's hope it continues because he has genuine pace which we do not have in abundance

 

Hear hear - it's a results game, and three wins out of three can't be knocked, but the performances have been anything but world-beating, and we could as easily have three points instead of nine without having much to complain about. Still, we've passed the United away test, and if Watford and Liverpool are similarly generous, who knows - we might be looking to beat the Double team's eleven straight wins (but I'm getting carried-away now - back to the darkened room).

 

Man.u were awful at that back and deserved to be punished. Playing a front two suited spurs and Moura's pace and direct runs to goal scared the life out Jones and smalling. I like the 4222 spurs played 2nd half it's a formation which suites the squad hopefully Wanyama and Lamela can get fit as it will add depth to the squad. Spurs need to have players fighting for their place in the team i think Dier has got into the team by default due to injuries, however, i think he is more a utility player than a nailed on starter. I still think spurs should have bought in at least one quality player in the summer. The player the Chavs got from RM looks good spurs should have bought him.

 

Great result! Toby showed his class, give the man his payday!! Moura looks very promising, hard worker full of pace and after seeing his interview; Poch has him really buying in the project and what it means to be a spurs player. As always, Kane, Eriksen, Dembele, Jan and many more were as dependable as ever. Great to see Rose back on the field, a bit rusty but I believe he can regain the lb spot. Can't wait for Sonny to get back as the rest of the team is getting fitter and healthier! Really good start for us compared to seasons past, the players really have their sites set on chasing city and liverpool.

For once, united played an open style but were punished for it; the aura around the club over there is distressing.

 

Don't get too carried away Cheshuntboy....lol

 

Stand out things for me - Toby was brilliant, Moura also. Great header from H.

Apart from his assist I thought that Eriksen wasn't great. Rose for me was very ragged. He's way short of his best, sluggish and really needs to work hard to get close to his best. He's always had an attitude, which you can suffer if he's sharp and strong - a long road back for him.

Start was worrying up until 30 mins, but United are poor and with Mourinho in charge they are going to not be a threat. Surely he can't last much longer.

In the Mail, Clattenburg said no pen for the Jones barge on Moura - shoulder to shoulder - ffs watch it through man, and don't get the job as the VAR ref at our games.

COYS

 

BUT Baz - this is the man who disallowed Pedro Mendes' strike some years back when, but for a couple of feet, the ball was all but touching the net at the back before Roy Carroll scooped it out. So I reckon he wouldn't know a shoulder if it kicked him up the arse
It certainly looked to me like it was shoulder to back, certain penalty. We'll wheel out the "if it was the other way round" scenario shall we ? Nah.....it's too obvious.

 

Didn't realise he went back that far GMc....

 

He sure does Baz - he was ref that night, although I can't remember what season it was. I'll never forget the stick I got, watching it in my local Golf Club (Golf - not for me at all, but I was a House Member purely for the Spurs SKY games and mainly the fact that it's a mere 300-400 yards away. Oh - and the pints were quite cheap too). I was the only Spurs fan among millions - well, a couple of dozen Sh*te followers. They were well amused - I wasn't.

 

What are people thinking over the CL draw... I think it's a decent draw. I'd prefer an easy group but much prefer a difficult one rather than a tricky one going to obscure countries where your damned if you do and damned if you don't. Last year we were thru comfortable but the previous one struggled with plucky opponents in leverkusen and Monaco.

 

We are more than capable of beating both Inter and PSV, it's an interesting group with a great tie vs Barca.

Bring it on

Besides according to some we just keep getting better & better so this is nothing.

 

I'd definitely agree with that notion, won't be an easy group. But we are more than capable of coming out of the group, so long as we focus on each game and take all our opponents seriously. A challenge in the group stages isn't necessary a bad thing, we'll just have to row with it!

 

Great start to the season for us , it had all the signs of a difficult start beforehand so to get 3 wins from 3 with 2 away wins including one at old Trafford is fantastic . Performances haven't been great but that's understandable this time of year all things considered , no one has been setting the world alight just yet . What a great result last Mon night , taught we were solid enough in it overall , the few big chances they got were from our carelessness . There was a lot of talk about how well Utd supposedly played in the first half but jeez I didn't see it . They must have been woeful in their other games if they were happy with that . I taught a lot of our lads were well underpar overall , especially the midfielders and the shape in the first half left a lot to be desired i.m.o but we were better second half and made the most of Utds embarrassing defence . Could easily have had one or two more but as always in these games the first goal can be massive . To have quite a lot of our players nowhere near their best and win 3 - 0 at Old Trafford , well Im not really sure what to make of that overall but you'd take it all day long . We need to pick it up fairly snappy tho because it won't last playing like we currently are and it would be a shame to blow such a good start to the season results wise . Hopefully last Monday's result will do something for us in that department .

Champions league draw was another tough one for us but we're getting used to that . Got as tough a team as you could get out of the top seeds not that there were too many kind looking ones there to be fair and to top it off we prob got the one team from the 4th seeds you'd like to avoid . Some great ties there to look forward too tho and like last season it's another opportunity to establish ourselves among the top teams . It's doable but again like last season getting off to a flyer could well be vital . You wouldn't want to be playing catch up in this group that's for sure . Like I've said earlier tho we need to get our house in order before this gets up and running or it could get rather ugly rather quickly .. Plenty to look forward to at this moment in time , hopefully we'll start seeing our lads form hitting an upward curve from now on then we can start looking forward with a bit more confidence ... Onwards and upwards hopefully , C.O.Y.S ....

 

The CL draw is tough, however, these are the type of games i would like to watch, cities draw is europa standard.

Botch is a good coach, however, he says thing's that don't need to be said like "Winning the Fa cup won't change your life." now he says he would have been happy to use academy players if toby, rose, or dembele were sold. What benefit is there in making that statement? Botch needs to keep it simple, he comes across as a bit complicated and slightly arrogant.

 

Where's the term botch coming from??

 

3rd in a 2 horse race, 1 LG cup final loss, 2 facup semi final losses, Europa LG failure, 1 extremely poor CL campaign, throwing a glorious chance vs Juventus.....

Good coach yes, Great manager no (not yet) , greatest achievements to date top 4 qualification (with arguably the best overall squad we've ever had) but has inevitably flopped at everything else , the cup crashes have been poor, the title races he's found himself in when other teams didn't turn up he flunked, has failed to improve his squad to kick on since it peaked 16/17.

Has a lot to prove this season excuses time is coming to an end, this is the 5th year of his tenure time to deliver.